I’m hearing alot about the structural flaws of First past the post voting these days. Glad to see more people talking about the topic. Let’s start making plans to fix this once and for all so people are free to vote how they want.
https://lemmy.nz/post/16053980/11917369
I invite you to my asklemmy post to discuss your recent commitment to replacing First Past The Post voting in your state so people can vote freely.
Sure thing! Drag already lives in a state that has implemented ranked choice voting. Drag voted for the socialist party in the last election, and didn’t waste drag’s vote. Drag doesn’t need to do anything in drag’s state because it’s already done.
Thank you for asking drag to contribute.
I’m not from the US but we do have FPtP here. I propose that all political positions should be filled in a manner similar to selecting a jury. Grab a bunch of citizens at random, do some vetting, install those that pass into the various positions. Three year limit. All major national policy votes taken via a (digital, on your phone) referendum. I strongly believe the only way to save politics is to remove “professional politicians” from the mix.
I’m having a hard time understanding the distinction of the voting method how its outcome differs from popular. I kinda feel like I get that there is a difference, but it’s not clicking. I’m probably just too tired.
First Past The Post voting (What most states use currently)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7tWHJfhiyo
Videos on alternative electoral systems we can try out.
Alternative vote
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y3jE3B8HsE
Ranked Choice voting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z2fRPRkWvY
Range Voting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3GFG0sXIig
Single Transferable Vote
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8XOZJkozfI
STAR voting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-mOeUXAkV0
Mixed Member Proportional representation
So imagine there’s three parties up for election. Party A gets 40% of the vote, Party B gets 30%, and Party C gets 30%.
In this scenario with first-past-the-post, Party A wins because they get the majority. This means 60% of voters (also known as the majority) had no impact on the election because their candidates are thrown away.
On the surface, proportional voting might look similar. But when you consider the highly gerrymandered state of voting districts, you start to realize that the deck is stacked in a very unfair way.
This is sort of how you wind up in a situation where a candidate wins the election despite not attaining the popular vote - although as I understand it that has more to do with the electoral college (which frankly, also seems undemocratic)
I read more than once, though have never fact checked, that no republican ever got elected had the popular vote, only through the electoral college’s undemocratic system did they ever get elected. Anyone know if this is accurate?
#1 still first-past-the-post, but support the Nation Popular Vote Interstate Compact https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact
#2 support ranked-choice initiatives
#3 support abolishing the Senate
I’m pushing for the 127 DC States plan, https://www.vox.com/2020/1/14/21063591/modest-proposal-to-save-american-democracy-pack-the-union-harvard-law-review , wherever I can. Getting this through successfully is probably the best chance to replace FPTP at the national level, including for Presidential elections.
Well, that is the wildest thing I read in a long time since the last Trump news, but it is actually very interesting. And constitutional. America is wild.
America is wild! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_divisionism Texas maybe legally has the right to choose to just divide itself into 5 states at any time
